Wednesday, August 6, 2014

August 4 Ed pulled into Port Townsend where a long time buddy, Charlie Ferguson, had a slip waiting for him (no easy task this time of year in these parts.) I drove up and we had a great day sipping really good ale and listening to Ed chatter like a man that's been alone too long. Thank you Charlie!

Arrival in Port Townsend

Last leg home

Departing Townsend

After three and half months of travel, Ed pulled safely into our slip at 4:40 last evening, August 5, to waiting family and friends. No dramatic rain storms, several days of dead calm, and plenty of time to ponder life.

Monday, August 4, 2014

Sorry for the late update.
I arrived in Neah Bay at 6:15 pm August 2. For a trip of 31 days 12 hrs. Yahoo!
It was good to walk up the dock and touch land. Very foggy for the last couple of days and couldn't see land until crossing about mid channel on the strait. Then there was Neah Bay and the Olympic mountains. A great sight. Thank goodness for GPS, radar and AIS. Had spent all last night and today keeping track of ships and fishing boats.

Spent the night in Neah Bay and next morning up early and motored to Port Angeles. Very foggy for the first few miles and then cleared. Lots of small boats fishing to dodge around. Light winds all day with a little showing up toward Port Angeles.

Up this morning(Aug 4) and heading to Port Townsend for the night. Very good to be back in home waters.

Friday, August 1, 2014

At sunrise this morning I could see mountains to the north end of Vancouver Island. Not sure if I'm seeing mountains on the island or over on the mainland. I was 76 miles out then. Can't see them now since the horizon to the east has gotten hazy.

Wind is really cranking at 20-25 knots from the north. I have the boat reefed down with the main at 2 reefs and only staysail. Boat speed is 6 knots average. Seas are about 6 feet on the beam, so getting some spray over the side. I plan on closing the coast to about 15 miles and then turning more southward.

Thursday, July 31, 2014

A slow last couple of days. A high passed over me killing all the wind for a day. Spend one night just drifting....but at least I can sleep longer. And yesterday motoring east with the hopes of getting to the east edge of the high. Not a lot of extra fuel to keep that up. In the late afternoon, there was a light ENE breeze, so I could start tacking to the east. This is definitely not a windward boat, very wide tacks but did make a few miles progress and a least the boat was driving itself. This morning the wind is more NE and I can make 3-4 knots to the east so I'm happy.

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Sunny and warm today. Had to take off the long underwear. Very nice.
Downside is this is part of a high pressure system moving very near my location and so killing the wind. Very light 5 knot sw wind and very slow speed of 1 to 2 knots to the NE

Sunday, July 27, 2014

Light west to sw winds continue to push us along. Just a few sun breaks over the last couple of days. Mostly cloudy and cool. No good solar charging going on so I'm going to run the engine for an hour or two and charge the batteries. Picked up one ship yesterday on AIS and another last night. Both passing about 6-8 miles away heading west.

Friday, July 25, 2014

Winds have been pretty good now, but the swell built up last night to 6 to 8 feet. It's not like they crash or anything but they can roll the boat around some and anything not secured goes flying. Also had to do some sail repair this morning as several of the sew-on jib hanks had chafed through.

Thursday, July 24, 2014

Well I've moved up to the latitude of Neah Bay. Still want to get some north of that so I can approach the entrance to the strait from the north. But I have quite a bit of longitude to go, so I'm not there anytime to soon. The winds are a little more consistent
now at 10-15 but still hard to make a prediction.

Saturday, July 19, 2014

Today it seems like I may have gotten through the low wind area of the high and out to the north enough to pick up 10 knot winds. Getting boat speed of 4 to 4.5 for most of the afternoon. It was cloudy and then cleared off. Now toward 3:00pm HST its clouding up again with some mist to the east.

Earlier this morning, I got north of the Oregon, California border....Yahoo, but this 1200 miles out.

Tracey said Jerry Andre, my buddy from Boeing has left some comments on the Blog. Thanks for following along Jerry and we'll sure get a hold of you for beers at the dock.

Speaking of beers......the sea temperatures gone down to 64.8F....the beer in the bilge
is feeling down right cool.

Friday, July 18, 2014

Today started out with some mist and fog but then cleared off to a nice sunny day. Not too warm and not chilly. Mornings are getting kind of cool and it may be time to find the fleece jacket. I did layout a fleece blanket.

Light winds today so I put up the drifter and poled it out. There's not enough wind to keep the sails full, so they slat back and forth with the small swell...noisy.

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Well the pacific high has moved right on top of me. Up until now it has been well east of here. I'm slowly trying to make my through it by going NW and hoping to get improved winds at the edge. Very slow going with the drifter flying and doing about 2 knots.

On a positive side, I'm now north of San Fransisco. Although I experienced some of that San Fransisco fog this morning. Haven't seen fog in a while.

Sunday, July 13, 2014

I've been right on this stationary weather front for the last couple of days. Heavy clouds with sun breaks. This morning I got a nice shower for about 30 minutes. They usually don't last much longer.
It rinsed the boat off good and I collected a little water for rinsing out cloths.

This afternoon I cleared the front and got into some high pressure moving north. This path home is not as straight forward as sailing to Hawaii. The highs and lows are moving around right now and I'm guessing on the right course.....I not thrilled with the guess factor..

But this afternoon I've been able to run twin headsails and although the winds are still only 8-10, make ok headway north.

Can't remember if I mention this, but I must see a floating piece of plastic or foam, one time a cooler lid, bottles, at least every hour.
I guess all that is from the Japan and Indonesia tsunami's. Never saw a bit of that stuff on the way to Hawaii.

Thursday, July 10, 2014

Dolphins today !! Pod of dolphins came by the boat today. I was going pretty slow so they couldn't play in the bow wave, but instead they crisscrossed just in front of the boat, back and forth. About 4 pair of them. Swimming really fast and looking back at the boat as they crossed in front. Pretty fun to watch.

Got up north of the high pressure cell today and the wind has really died off. It's coming from the SW now. Forecast says it should improve as I get a little more north.

Monday, July 7, 2014

Just after sunrise this morning saw what at first I thought was splashing but then clearly whale spouts. Couldn't see much at first and I thought they submerged, but then even on the starboard side, even with the stern a sperm whale raised his head to take a look. Not more than 40-50 ft off the side. Then has I got a little past them, two others appeared on the surface, just laying there rolling around. Side fins and tailfins out of the water. They continued doing that until out of sight. I guess they were resting or sleeping. Pretty Awesome !

Just before dawn, got the boat washed in nice heavy shower for 10-15 minutes. The deck is nice again without the salt dusting.

Sunday, July 6, 2014

Hope you all had a great 4th of July and still have all the fingers you started out with.

Yesterday was beautiful sailing with a ENE wind at about 10 knots. The boat was going about 4 most of the day. Not fast but the sea was very flat and had a beautiful horizon of puffy clouds. Sunset was pretty good, only partially obcured by horizon clouds. I've only seen two or three clear sunsets so far on the entire trip.

A nice light breeze continued into the night with flat seas. I think the moon sets are even prettier than the sunset. Last nights was a half moon with some clouds around it but really nice.

This morning dawned with little to no wind and I motored for about 2 hours until the sun rose a little higher and the wind filled in.
Very slow for most of the day. I getting out of the trades and into the area where winds are driven by the highs and lows. Unfortunately the highs have sort of broken down so over the next two days, I'll just try to keep the boat moving north, northwest, northeast as the wind allows.....Anything but south....

I flew the light air drifter for part of the morninging until it looked like a squall was coming. No squall or rain appeared but a little wind did so I could move along NW at about 2 knots. Was hoping for a little rain...everything outside has a dust of dried salt all over.

This afternoon, the wind has picked up slightly and I'm moving at 3.5 knots to the north. Hope it holds throught the night so Thor the Monitor self-steering can do his thing.

Friday, July 4, 2014

I cleaned up a few things on the boat after Tracey flew home and then left Lahaina on July 2nd. I left at first light, thinking I would go up and cross the channel and pass the east side of Molokai and head north. But by the time I got into the channel there was good east wind and 3-4 ft chop, so decided it wasn't worth the 3 hour bash across. Going down the south side of Molokai and around toward Honolulu did add about 39 miles more, but I had good downwind sailing at 6-7 knots to the western end.

Out past the west end of Molokai I could see Diamond Head across the channel. There was considerable haze so it was just peeking through.

Trades were not too strong as I cleared the islands, but with the boat on a beam reach there was lots of boat motion. Speed was about 6 knots for the rest of the day and evening. Swell and wind waves seemed NNE, so lots of spray across the deck. Sometime during the night a wave hit the starboard lee cloth and ripped it apart. Oh well, I think it was sun weaken anyway.

The 3rd continued with good wind and again lots of spray. I had gotten a little queasy from all the motion, so did do much but hang on. During the night, the wind eased up and the seas flatten out.
Today has been mostly a 3 knot day with light winds and 1-2 foot waves. Very pretty out if a bit slow. The wind has shifted to the NE some, so I'm running close to the wind so keep a northly coarse. Even so I'm going northwest a bit.

It wss nice to have a slower day with less motion and I got some cloths rised out and dried. Tomorrow the winds should be about the same or less.
Happy 4th of July to all !!
Ed

Sunday, June 29, 2014

Saturday was the last day/night on the boat for me. We spent the day relaxing with a little swimming & snorkeling boat side, an early evening grill of steak and veggies and then to town for a shower, ice cream dessert & walk.

On our return to the boat, dingying out of the harbor, we encounter two or three spotted eagle rays! They were magnificent! We could have watched them forever. Unfortunately because the sun was already down, they were hard to see unless they were really close to the dingy, which they were - twice! Heading out to the boat, we were flagged down by friends on Wandering Dolphin. A family of five living & traveling on their boat for many years. We met them in Hilo Bay after their crossing from Costa Rica. They were joined there by two more friends who are sailing with them for as long as Chris & Rebecca with have them...a lovely end to a lovely stay.

I know that all are with me in wishing Ed the fairest of winds and following seas for this leg of his journey. We'll be waiting for him on the other end which he says should be about 30 days - give or take. You know what this means...no more pics!

Saturday, June 28, 2014

Friday started out sunny and became overcast. It honestly was enjoyable because it kept it cooler with a nice breeze. It is really hot in the open sun here. (Fun Fact: Lahaina means 'cruel sun')

Hand laundered several of Eds shirts so he'll have a clean start to his next leg. While those dried, I put on the kettle to steam out the wrinkles in our 'good' clothes for dinner in town. Afterwards we just relaxed on the boat.

Headed in for showers prior to dinner. Now you would think that a yacht club has fine facilities for such things, but you'd be wrong. Although I must admit, its nice that the showers are clean with as much cold or hot water as you choose (in Mexico, you had no choice.) The problem? As soon as one dries off, one is wet again because of the humidity. They're only enclosed by a slated door. Any primping must be down around the corner in a toilet that has no outlets for hair dryers (even though they are rarely, if ever, used by sail boaters) and no fans to keep cool enough to want to primp.

As mentioned in a previous entry, Fleetwoods on Front St. is a restaurant owned by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. The indoor area looks like a very large, very clean and cool pub. Dark rich wood, photographs (of he, his family and famous friends) tables and chairs, stylin lighting and a couch or two thrown in. We ate upstairs on the balcony. Dinner started with a sunset ceremony. Mick Fleetwood is Scottish and very proud of that heritage. So the ceremony started with a bagpiper, his music and a tale of the long standing legacy between the Scotts and Hawaiians. Afterward a blessing, reminder of what 'aloha' really means, and the fire lighting from the Kahuna.

Hawaiian State Flag

Ed had the chicken curry and I had the gnocchi&pear with goat cheese sauce and prosciutto...yum.

After dinner we moved to the 'couch' to watch the band, which was great. We closed it down!...the band stops at 9:30 ;)

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

After a very rocky, rolly afternoon through evening with sustained wind gusts of up to 30 knots at Palauea Beach (just after we finished snorkeling and finished the blog,) we finally got some sleep around 9pm. Ed had been up for the better part of 36 hours.
The next morning we had our breakfast and I wanted to get going to Lahaina immediately as not to fight the afternoon trades. We got off about 10am and about 30 minutes into the sail we noticed the white caps picking up. A few minutes later we were in a white knuckle ride across the bay. We ran the boat at 7.5/8 knots with the main reefed. If you know us and our boat - 4.5/5 knots is our general speed. Felt like we were Volvo Ocean Racing. Consequently it was a quick crossing of Ma'alaea Bay and once behind the mountains, we were sailing at lovely 4 knots.

We've tied up to a Lahaina Yacht Club buoy, paying next to nothing compared with home; about $5 a day. Ed is just shocked. I told him it's probably because they rarely get sailboats in here! Meanwhile we're temporary yacht club members with all the privileges. So Ed says when we're in the club my name is 'Lovey'. Received a call from the kids saying they could see us from the live web cam here so no nudity allowed on deck! The water at our tie up is crystal clear and a beautiful blue. In the morning you can see the smallest pebble in the sand 30 feet deep. Our first night in we ate at the club.

Day 2 we made our reservations at Fleetwoods (courtesy of son Edward - THANK YOU!!) A new restaurant owned by Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac. Beautiful place. We're doing the sunset dinner on the balcony-but the inside area is gorgeous too.
Headed to Whalers Village, via public transport, and Black Rock for some fun in the sun. Swimming, snorkeling and watching the young people jump off the black rock. A full day with our own sunset dinner on the boat.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

After checking the wind at 6a.m. on Saturday and seeing there wasn't any, we decided to head to leave Hilo. Better no wind then the stuff we had on Friday. The forecasts were either showing small craft advisories or no wind. We figured no wind was better. Motor sailed for most of the Big Island. Not much wind to speak of most of the day. Rich green coastline. Just before the jump-off point we were doing 5 knots without the motor and with one reef. Making better time then calculated, Ed reefed again so we wouldn't make it to Maui too early as to not see what we were doing. (Reefing is making the main sail smaller.)

It was a good crossing, but I don't like over-nighters. One sailor asked what I was so afraid of and I explained it is the same thing I'm afraid of during the day only I can't see it coming. I was always the kid that had the blankets pulled just up to my eyes, not covering them! So I go down below and try to sleep. Only this go around sleep was only available in about 20/30 minute spurts. Its like a tin can down there underway. Everything sounds like it's either breaking or about to break. I'd get into a rhythm with the waves then suddenly get hit with this odd side wave that like backing a car into a brick wall. The upside is we had clear skies all the way. The stars lit up the night so beautifully and brightly that we could actually make out the land masses and clouds. Thousands. The break of dawn came at 4:30 and we watched the sun rise. Superb. The smell of dry, warm land is something you never forget.

First thing we did is motor straight to Molokini Crater for a 7am snorkel. We had a short snorkel and then headed to Palauea Beach where the turtles like to hang out (near what used to be called Turtle Bay.) And right after anchoring a nice size turtle swam by to say hello. We snorkeled for about an hour or so, sat on the beach and back to the boat for 'beer:thirty." After finishing our beers I happened to look at the clock and it was only 10:30 in the morning! Amazing what you can get accomplished when you are up before dawn. Its time for siestas now. Probably 'til dinner! Enjoy the pics.

Links to other good stuff

About Us

We built Bullwinkle, our Westsail 32, in the backyard over 15 years. Have sailed her in Puget Sound, San Juan islands, Canadian Gulf Islands, Desolation Sound down the Pacific Coast into the Sea of Cortez and Ed brought her home via Hawaii. Now we're taking our 27' Airstream Overlander, Rocket J across the states!